//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: The Night Shift 
// by totallynotabrony 
//------------------------------//

	The concert hall was packed.  Most of the ponies in the crowd were teenagers.  Cheerilee felt slightly out of place, but once again Rarity had come through with an excellent disguise and nopony gave her a second glance.
“I understand the need to ‘dress down’,” the seamstress had said, “but that doesn’t mean you can’t look glamorous.  If it helps, think of it as camouflage for a social environment.”
So Cheerilee had put on her glamouflage and taken the train to Trottingham.  The clothing and accessories were different from the ones she had worn in her own teenage years, but with careful hairstyling and makeup, she blended in with the concertgoers.  For a little extra anonymity, she kept her sunglasses on.
After some thought, Cheerilee decided to wait until after the performance to approach Sapphire Shores.  The singer would probably have more time then, and there would be fewer audience members around.
It had been awhile since she’d been to a concert of any kind.  Sapphire Shores was not Cheerilee’s favorite artist, but she was looking forward to the performance.  She found her way to the seat number that was listed on her ticket.
The crowd was huge.  Glancing around, Cheerilee spotted a few VIP seats.  Surprised, she recognized Photo Finish, Hoity Toity, and a few other important faces from the fashion world.  Sapphire was popular enough that she was almost more of a brand identity than just a singer, and required a small army of other ponies to maintain her image.
The lights in the audience dimmed and the stage lit up as the entertainer stepped out.  “Hello Trottingham!” she called.  “You’re the greatest fans in the world!”
The crowd cheered wildly.  Cheerilee allowed herself to get caught up in the energy.  She made sure to keep her eyes moving and alert to threats, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy herself.
Sapphire turned out to be one of those singers who sounded better in concert.  It might have been the energy she exuded that made her stage presence breathtaking.  It was honestly rather difficult for Cheerilee to keep scanning the crowd instead.
After two hours, Sapphire finished the last song, a wildly popular number called Trot 'Cause I Love You.  She waved goodbye and took a bow.  The curtains closed and the crowd began filing out, a happy mood hanging over them.  Cheerilee headed for the backstage area.  She showed her pass to a security pony and he let her through.
In not very long, she found herself looking at the singer’s dressing room door.  After glancing around, Cheerilee knocked.
“Who is it?” called a voice.  
Cheerilee briefly debated what she should say to get the singer to let her in.  “Countess de la Cheer.”
The door opened.  “I didn’t know you were here!” said Sapphire.  “Come in.”
Cheerilee followed her inside.  She closed the door behind her and locked it.  Sapphire didn’t appear to notice.
“So, what happened at the Garden party?” asked Sapphire.  
“I think I should be asking you that,” said Cheerilee.  “How did you get bound to the table?  Who put that crystal beneath it?”
“I don’t know,” said the pony of pop.
“You have to know something,” said Cheerilee, her voice rising.  “Did you black out?  What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I was talking to Photo Finish and…that’s it.”  Sapphire shrugged.
“What were you talking about?” asked Cheerilee.
“What does it matter?” the singer said.  “Who are you really?”
“I’m not important,” said Cheerilee.  “That crystal was a magical weapon.  If we hadn’t discovered it, a lot of bad things could have happened.  You need to tell me everything you know so we can find who brought it to the party.”
Sapphire shook her head.  “I don’t know anything.”
“That’s for me to decide,” insisted Cheerilee.  “Tell me what happened.”
“I think I’d like you to leave,” said the singer.
“I’m not going anywhere until you help me figure out who was behind this.”  Cheerilee advanced on Sapphire menacingly.
“I’m getting security.”  The pop star attempted to push past, but Cheerilee put her in a headlock and forced her to the floor.
“I haven’t met many celebrities,” Cheerilee admitted.  “Are you all ungrateful horseapples like this?  I saved your life, so the least you could do is help me stop the perpetrators.”
Sapphire gasped for air.  Cheerilee backed the pressure off the singer’s neck long enough for her to draw a breath, but then tightened her grip again.
“I’m going to ask you a couple of questions,” Cheerilee said.  “If you don’t answer me, I’ll start choking you again.  Do you understand?”
Sapphire managed to nod fitfully.  Cheerilee relaxed her hold.  “Now, what’s the last thing you remember?”
“I was talking to Photo Finish,” the singer managed to say.
“About what?” asked Cheerilee.
“I was wondering why she’d been absent so much lately.”  Sapphire paused to recall a memory.  “She was kind of distant and didn’t seem to be acting normally.”
“What’s that mean?” Cheerilee prodded.
“Well…she seemed kind of normal, which for Photo Finish isn’t normal.”  Seeing Cheerilee’s confused look, Sapphire said, “Trust me, Photo Finish has a pretty distinctive personality.  I’ve worked with her a lot, and she was acting different at the party.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me?” asked Cheerilee.
“Uh, well, aside from Photo Finish being weird in a different way, and me being tied to a table with some weird glowing crystal, it seemed like a pretty normal day.”  Sapphire shrugged.
"That's it?" prompted Cheerilee.
Sapphire nodded.  "I told you everything, okay?"
“Thank you,” said Cheerilee, letting the singer go and heading for the door.
“Hey wait a minute!” shouted Sapphire.  “I’m going to have bruises from what you did!”
“You’ve got makeup to cover them,” Cheerilee reminded her.  “I would keep this just between us.  You wouldn’t want me to visit you again.”  She walked out of the dressing room.
Cheerilee did not like harming anypony, but she was surprised how effective it was at getting things done.  A little intimidation would certainly get her students to behave, but she quickly pushed that idea aside.  Pop stars were one thing, but she would never think of hurting any of the foals in her classroom.
Outside the concert hall, the sky was getting dark.  Cheerilee paused for a moment to consider what Sapphire had said.  It was not the schoolteacher’s job to evaluate the information she collected, merely to report it back to Princess Luna.  However, she couldn’t help but think things over.
Photo Finish had gone missing for a while, and when she returned she seemed different.  After coming in contact with her, Sapphire had blacked out as if hypnotized.  A strange material had been found binding the singer to the table.  A magical weapon had been planted.
All the clues seemed to be leading to something.  Cheerilee had a bad feeling about what.  The mare shook her head and started for the train station.
She’d only gone a short ways when she spotted Photo Finish.  The fashion pony appeared to be in a hurry to go somewhere.  Cheerilee stealthily fell in behind her, leaving about a city block of space between them.
The train was scheduled to leave soon.  Cheerilee didn’t know how much time she might have to observe the fashion pony.  There was another train to Ponyville later that night, so if she missed the first one it wasn’t a huge problem.
The photographer kept walking, eventually heading right out of town.  Cheerilee was growing concerned.  She couldn’t stalk her target all night.  More importantly, outside the city and on the country roads it would be a lot more obvious that she was following.
The bushes rustled suddenly and an orange stallion stumbled out.  “Hello Cheerilee.”
“Valiant,” she snapped.  “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same question,” he said.  “It’s a little strange to see you away from Ponyville.”
“You know I’m on a secret mission for Princess Luna,” she said.
He shrugged.  “Well, I’m following Photo Finish too.  Could you please share with me what you’ve learned about her?”
Cheerilee was somewhat taken aback.  Rarity had once told her that Valiant had had troubles with the photographer in the past, but she never expected him to be out here following her, too.  Perhaps she had something in common with him, but…
“I’m sorry, but if the Princess didn’t tell you, I don’t think I’m allowed to,” Cheerilee said.
The stallion nodded.  “All right then.  Sorry to have bothered you.  I’m going to go to the train station and see if anypony can sell me a ticket.”
He turned to go.
“Hey wait,” called Cheerilee.
“Yes?” said the pony, turning around.
Cheerilee knocked him to the ground and clamped her jaws shut on his throat.